GET TO KNOW: ADAM CHILLINGWORTH

Hi everyone! My name’s Adam – I’m a competitive swimmer for Plymouth Leander Swimming Club. I have been asked by ProSwimwear to give you some insight into my swimming experiences during my journey to national and international competitive swimming! I hope to share my tips and tricks along the way, but first I’ll need to give you a short story of who I am and how I got here…

FACE FILE:

-          DOB: 23/09/1997

-          Place of birth: Hong Kong

-          Hometown: Cheddar, Somerset, UK

-          Currently Living In: Plymouth, Devon, UK

-          Nationality: English/Chinese – Eurasian

MY CLUBS

-          South China Athletics Association (SCAA) 2000-2012. Hong Kong

-          Street and District Swimming Club (S&D) 2012-2016. Somerset, UK

-          Plymouth Leander Swimming Association (PL) 2016-Current. Devon, UK

My Swimming Background

I’ve been swimming since I was 3 years old. My parents were always influencing and encouraging me to get involved in exercise and sport when I was young. Growing up I was regularly involved in swimming, football, running and triathlons. My parents drafted me into regular training sessions throughout my childhood – up to 4 times a week! With football training also 4 times a week too!

I moved to the UK in 2012 and my swimming started to improve dramatically. Soon enough, I gave up football and running to focus purely on swimming. When I moved to university, I joined my local swim club, I put my faith in the programme and my times started to improve even more – That is really the story that lead me to where I am today.

My proudest achievement yet would probably have to be my bronze medal at the British Summer Nationals in 2018. I competed in the 200 breast. Going into the meet I did not have any expectations of positioning; I just wanted to swim well and get a personal best. Swimming the heats, I felt great, and I ended up getting a 2 second pb and got me into the final in 2nd place. Racing the final was a great experience and my favourite race to date. It was a really proud moment as well as my father was watching - I was happy that I won the bronze for him.

My Aspirations

My ultimate goal, which is probably the same for most swimmers, is to reach the Olympic games. The next Olympics is Tokyo 2020, where I am hoping to compete for Hong Kong. However, before I can compete there is a lot of work to be done on the eligibility side of things, but I am working towards this now, so fingers crossed!

The idea of 2022 Commonwealth Games for England is also on my list. Looking further into the future is difficult as I’m unsure where I’ll be training and again eligibility comes into play there as well.

I am happy with what I’ve achieved so far in my swimming career and excited to see what else I can do in the future. Most importantly, I want to make my parents proud!

My Advice to Young Swimmers

Trust in your coaches, swim mates, the programme and the process. This is so important in the world of swimming, since there can be plenty of ups and downs, but I’m sure it will always work out well in the end!  

Make sure you check back for more updates from Adam and ProSwimwear!